Varanasi, June 17: Sunil Chaurasia from Kolkata, Mukim Ali from Mathura, and Deepankar Kaushal from Noida have all secured a joint lead in the first round of the DP World PGTI NexGen tournament, held at the BLW Greens Golf Course. Each golfer recorded a score of three-under 67 in this ₹25 lakh prize money event.
Chaurasia, 31, who is currently leading the DP World PGTI NexGen Order of Merit, arrived in Varanasi after consecutive victories at the Alpha Sports Academy Golf Championship in Patna and the Vijay Kumar Memorial in Lucknow last week. He achieved his score with seven birdies, two bogeys, and a double bogey on the par-4 10th hole.
Mukim Ali, 27, also finished with a three-under 67. Starting from the par-4 fifth hole in a shotgun format, he made five birdies against two bogeys. His impressive performance included three consecutive birdies from the 16th to the 18th hole, propelling him to the top of the leaderboard.
Deepankar Kaushal, 39, began his round at the par-3 eighth hole. His score included an eagle on the par-5 18th hole, four birdies, one bogey, and a double bogey on the par-4 12th hole.
Pawan Verma from Delhi and Nikhil Sharma from Gurugram are tied for fourth place with scores of two-under 68. Kolkata’s Pratim Kumar and Souvik Nayak, along with Varanasi’s Hemant Yadav, share the sixth position with scores of one-under 69.
Scoring proved challenging for most players, with only 11 out of 72 achieving even-par 70 or better on the opening day. Another local professional, Imamul Haq, scored 73, placing him in a tie for 26th.
The winner of this year’s NexGen Order of Merit will earn an exemption for the main tour (DP World PGTI) for the 2027 season.
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